DEALING WITH ADDICTION THE BEST SOLUTION

Editor: I would like to respond to the front-page article "Police go after
bike couriers" (The Times, Oct. 15).

I truly feel for the plight of the people living around Linwood Park.
Having your neighbourhood invaded by drug dealers and prostitutes, and
feeling your safety threatened, must be awful.

However, the problem isn't as simple as merely stepping up the police
presence to get rid of them; they'll just move on to another location.
There is a much larger issue at play here - the illness of addiction.

The drug dealers are there because there is a market for their
product; it's a simple case of supply and demand. It has long been
known that prostitution is largely driven by addiction, and it's not
just prostitutes who are addicted - many young people are trapped by
it, for whatever reason. I know that firsthand, because I'm the parent
of an addicted young adult.

What's needed is for all levels of government to come to their senses
and realize that there is a real and growing hard drug problem in our
community. It's not more police that are needed - what's needed are
more and better facilities to help those addicted to overcome their
illness and become functioning members of society; take away the
illness and you take away the crime factor.

We also need a justice system that has some backbone when it comes to
getting the hard drug dealers off our streets and keeping them off.
Take 40 addicts off the street, treat them and make them productive
members of society again, and you've now removed 40 "customers" from
the dealers!

How many readers are aware of the fact that the closest shelters
available are in Surrey, and that they are primarily located in the
Whalley area, a place well-known for its drug addiction and crime
problems? There was recently an announcement in one of the large
newspapers that the Phoenix Society in Surrey had applied for a grant
to be used for a treatment facility - that's great.

But Langley (both the City and the Township) needs not only a shelter
of its own, but also a residential treatment facility. The few
"public" residential facilities available in the Lower Mainland are
full to capacity; the private centres are beyond the financial means
of pretty much anyone but the well-off.

The wait lists vary for the public facilities; sometimes as much as a
month or more, especially if you're a young female patient. How many
addicts will end up back on the street because they can't wait that
long?

The abandoned Delphi school facility is currently being used for
nothing better than a Sunday flea market. It would make the perfect
location for a combined shelter/detox/treatment facility. Given the
building's previous purpose, there is no doubt that there are kitchen
facilities, a gymnasium, washrooms and a lot of the necessary
infrastructure already in place. Classrooms could be turned into dorms
and counseling rooms. There are medical, dental and social services in
the area. It's readily accessible to transportation. It's centrally
located to educational and recreational facilities.

I know it's not as easy as it sounds n there are many factors that
would have to be taken into consideration, not the least of them,
funding & operating responsibility. But creative problem solving has
to start somewhere. Perhaps a petition should be presented to the
municipal, provincial and federal governments, on behalf of the people
of Langley, asking for assistance. We can't just sit around and wait
while the various levels of government discuss, analyze, confer and
debate the issue. If we truly want to get the crime off our streets,
we have to get proactive.

C. Day,

Langley